Jacki Marsh has been running toward her goals, quite literally, from an early age.

When Marsh was just 17 years old, she competed in the 6-mile CrazyLegs Mini Marathon in New York City, the United States' first distance race in which women were allowed to compete.

Marsh, now 63, recalls that the San Francisco Examiner paid her way from California to New York to compete, and the newspaper predicted that she would come in fifth in that race. She won it by about 200 yards.

Though her distance running career ended in 1984 when she was diagnosed with a heart condition that necessitates a pacemaker, Marsh has been running in a different way, as a late-comer to the Loveland mayoral race who earned 46.69 percent of the vote.

Loveland's Popularly Elected Mayors

Kathy Gilliland, 1998-2003.

Larry Walsh, 2003-07.

Gene Pielin, 2007-09.

Cecil Gutierrez, 2009-17.

Jacki Marsh, 2017-.

Marsh is only Loveland's fifth mayor-elect in the city's history, as mayors were previously picked from the City Council by the council members themselves. Marsh will take the reins from Cecil Gutierrez, who has been mayor since 2009.

This week, Marsh talked to the Reporter-Herald about her motivation to get into politics and her plans for the coming days. Comments have been edited for length and clarity.

The Reporter-Herald: You've lived in Loveland about six years. What made you decide to come and get involved in city politics?

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Jacki Marsh: I didn't plan to uproot my entire life, you know. But I realized I did not want to be a part-time grandmother. So I gave up everything in California — a marriage, horses, dogs, cats, and moved to Utah from Monterey. Because, when you have health issues, there's a different perspective on life and what's important. Being a grandmother, and being part of her life and shaping her view of the world, was more important at the time. At the time I left California, I left the security of a marriage that provided health insurance. I had just gotten a new pacemaker, and I fully thought when I left, I will likely die when the pacemaker battery runs out. But, I will at least have had seven, nine, 10 years of being a grandmother. So, it's kind of funny when I look back on that. The disease I have, when I was first diagnosed in 1984, was that I would be dead in two years. And, statistically, it's correct. So, getting the gift of having a grandchild and getting to know her, it was worth the risk. And, obviously, I've stayed alive. I did take a job in Utah that provided health insurance, so I did that and did my jewelry business, and when "Obamacare" passed, it became that I could open up my own business. I opened here Oct. 25, 2013, but I moved here in October 2012.

When did you start getting involved with City Council?

There was a meeting downtown, and they were talking about plans for downtown. And my first reaction to the plans was, like, "You're going to change the whole look of downtown!" And, "Have you asked the people if this is what they want?" I picked Loveland because it's an art community, and I like the small-town flavor of downtown. I like that you can walk into any shop and meet the owner — same with Dickens Alley, or Mo Betta, whatever — I like that. So, my first thought was that if I don't know about this, and I own a building down here — do the people of Loveland know what you're planning? So, I kind of asked some questions that I think ticked people off in that meeting, and one of the women came up and said, "Well, Jacki, if you went to City Council meetings, you'd know!" And I've virtually gone to every City Council meeting since. I've missed only a handful in three years. I'm afraid not to go to council meetings. I mean, in the short time that I've been going, three years, so many things have come up that would have affected my life.

You and the new councilors will be sworn in next Tuesday. What are your first plans?

I tend to be a straightforward person — I just think we should be transparent to the public and transparent on City Council itself. In other words, why would I not tell everybody the same thing I would tell one person on City Council? Getting the word out about what's coming up — the rolling calendar, the agenda — having a way to communicate with the public that this is what's available, here's a link to the agenda, but then if we could have somebody summarize it, like "here are the highlights." I have found in going to council meetings and reading the agenda that, a lot of times, like people will say, the devil is in the details. There was, a year or so ago, something on the agenda: "Should we buy four new police cars for our four new police officers?" That's a no-brainer, right? So, if you just read the agenda, you would think "That's great!" But, if you went into the agenda packet and you looked at the details, I believe the number was $25,000 of the funds needed for the police cars would come out of the Rialto budget. That changes whether I as a citizen or I as a City Councilperson would support that. The other part of transparency is, I think, that we have to be brave enough to state, "This is my position, this is why it's my position, and this is why I'm going to vote this way or that way on it."

What are some of your long-term goals?

What I would like to do is ensure the City Council is directing the city staff, or whoever is doing the presentation, to give a very well-rounded view of what's going to be discussed. The pros, the cons and the options.

I've gotten a lot of heat during the campaign for having been on the Downtown Development Authority and then resigning from it. That is a truthful statement, but it's missing the why. The problem with being on a board or commission is it ends up speaking with one voice. So, what gets reported at City Council as a representation of what the board wanted to do is a single, essential statement. You don't hear different or opposing ideas because you're speaking with one voice. I think we need to make sure that City Council not only hears the final outcome. The Supreme Court, for example, they give you the dissenting opinion. I think we should invite those people on boards and say, "These are the parts I agree with and these are the parts that I don't," so that City Council hears those voices. Members of boards and commissions care about their city, or they wouldn't be doing this.

We need to look at the barriers to small business. I do support bringing in businesses with 11-100 employees, but we still lack something for small businesses. Right now, small businesses can borrow up to $50,000 — except, you have to pay 11 percent interest. A small business struggling to get started or expand? You've just handicapped that small business. I think it would be a better system — since we want to clean up downtown, renovate the buildings — to get low-interest loans worked out with one of the many banks in the area where the city will guarantee the loan, but they'll have a lien on the property. So the city, instead of earning 1 percent interest, is going to get 3, 4 or 5 percent. A 3 percent loan that the city backs would allow somebody to borrow the money. And then you have fixed-up buildings. To take the money from people who need the money to support their families, and to give it to entities that really don't, I don't agree with that.

As somewhat of a council outsider moving in, how will you begin building coalitions?

Well, I am going to hope that we all want the best for Loveland. I don't think things are going to change that much — there are going to be some things that I agree with some members, and some things that I agree with other members. And there are going to be some things that probably none of them agree with me! I'd hope there would be no efforts to thwart me. I'd hope that would not be the rationale — that would be pretty childish, I'd think. But, I think, if we're all trying to work toward the same goal to solve transportation problems, if we're trying to solve affordable housing issues — we'd have common goals, even if we differ in what we believe is right for the city. We shouldn't reject anybody's ideas just because they're new. I'm just one vote, it's not like I'm going to take over council! I do think I will ask questions, but I also don't want to blindside city staff. Being in this position, I can go to City Manager Steve Adams and say, these are the questions I'm going to ask. I think that's an honest way to deal with the city.

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